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| Library of Alexandria, by O. von Corven |
Mythology and the Sacred Mind
By Rt. Rev. Michael A. Starsheen
We, the generations of post-Modern, intellectual, Western-trained, post-Enlightenment, and above all literate people no
longer have that gut-level access to myth that our ancestors did, and we have lost one of our most precious resources thereby.
Modern man celebrates the concept of “individuation” of the conscious mind, as though this was something that
the ancients did not have; that they somehow, in their primitive, mythic state were more antlike, “collective”
of consciousness.
Again, all of this is filtered through one of our own most fundamental, amazing, stupid-ass, unexamined myths, that of
“The Forward March of Progress.” This myth tells us that in every time element you wish to examine, the condition
of mankind will be superior to that of his predecessors---he will be smarter, faster, stronger, sexier, and have higher technology.
Ancient civilizations simply could not have had anything that equaled or surpassed modern scientific or technological
thought or methods because they were “Too Primitive.”
This despite amazing evidence from around the world to the contrary, where the Maya, the Chinese, the Indians, certain
megalithic cultures in Europe, and most certainly the Egyptians, demonstrated extensive knowledge of physics, mathematics,
astronomy, metallurgy, engineering, stone working, and other techniques thousands of years before they were supposed
to have been invented by the Greeks, whom everyone knows invented civilization.
And then, of course, we lost it all, to the burning of the Alexandrian library, the fall of Rome, the forcible Christianization
of so many countries, the invasions of the New World, and so forth. These events always marked a backward eddy in the so-called
March of Progress, but are conveniently ignored by its adherents.
So what does this have to do with the mythic mind? What I want you to grasp is that our ancestors in those times were every
bit our equals, and in some ways our superiors, as their remains demonstrate techniques that we would be hard put to duplicate.
Our brains haven’t changed: they’re the same size, and general construction. There are some theories that we’ve
added a small part of the prefrontal cortex since then, but that’s kind-of hard to prove from mostly skeletal remains.
So how did our ancestors think, and what’s so important about myth? Well, let’s travel back and take a look
at their world. The biggest thing we take for granted, so much so that most of us don’t even read books when we have
the opportunity to do so, is literacy. Before Gutenberg, and rumored Chinese predecessors, and some block printing methods
in Sumeria that may have been in place long, long ago, there were very few books. The ones that did exist were hand copied,
cost a fortune, and lived their lives either in a church library or in a private library where they might mingle with 20-30
companions, if their owner was really wealthy.
The Library of Alexandria, fabled gem that it was, was said to contain hundreds, if not thousands of these powerful hand-written
books, scrolls, and other pieces of writing collected from all over the Mediterranean and the Middle East, and perhaps even
farther and more exotic places. Scholars would come from everywhere to study there for a short while.
But for the average person, all of this was like the backside of the Moon. They had no more chance of reading there than
a frog would, and probably never saw a book in their lives. So, oh, are we back to our “ignorant, primitive, child-like
ancestors, inferior to us in every way?” Hardly!
That ancestor would have had an exceptionally well-trained memory, especially in the associative context. They would be
easily able to see how one story related to one another, and how one symbol related to one another. This continued to be the
primary means of the transmission of information to people well into the Middle Ages, which is why the stained glass in the
cathedrals is so rich and detailed.
Any symbol shown in the glass would have layers of meaning for the average medieval viewer. Say that part of the image
showed a mermaid with a mirror combing her hair. The viewer would immediately know that she stood for the sin of Vanity, which
would call to mind an Old Testament story or two telling of vain people and their downfall, and then a New Testament story
where Jesus speaks about the sin of Vanity and the need to overcome it in order to gain entry into heaven. The symbolic image
might then branch off into related saints’ tales or sermons that the priest especially wanted the laity to remember.
All from one small piece of colored glass!
This is how our illiterate, relational ancestors minds worked! And it’s why myth is so incredibly important.
Like we saw above, the brain retains and associates data to and with symbolic images far more readily than with the
written, or even spoken, word. Symbols burn into memory much more clearly than with mere words, and the images persist
longer. So mythic imagery is full of symbolic language to ensure that the story being told lingers on our minds.
Modern scientists dismiss myth as the way primitive peoples looked at the natural world around them, and then made up stories
to explain how the world worked. These stories were always cute little anthropomorphic tales of little value, that didn’t
really explain anything. And so the word “myth” has come to be synonymous with the word “lie” in our
culture.
But they’re wrong! Many new thinkers are now taking a hard look at the myths trying to see what they’re telling
us. Probably the foremost thinkers on the topic are Giorgio de Santillana and Hertha von Dechend, whose book, Hamlet’s
Mill, looks extensively at the way the ancients encoded complex astronomical data concerning precession of the equinoxes,
the Great Ages and energies to expect, events that had happened on Earth to be prepared for in the future, and so forth. In
Fingerprints of the Gods Graham Hancock examines flood myths from around the world to get a sense of what might have
happened at the end of the last Ice Age. Others are deciphering information from different sets of myths, trying to regain
the knowledge contained therein. And it’s excessively hard because we no longer have the “keys” to unlock
the symbols.
See, writing is a very dangerous activity that we have trivialized, first with the printing press and now with the
Internet. Words have almost lost their meaning, except for those that trigger slander or rage. But in the ancient world, people
thought long and hard before committing anything to a permanent surface, and this understanding of the danger of words has
a lot to do with why many Middle Eastern languages have no vowels—added safety.
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| Isis as Sirius following Osiris as Orion |
So let’s look at a fairly simple myth—Isis search for Osiris. Well, just on the surface of the two characters
you have the symbol of Isis (Sepdet, Sirius) following Osiris (Sahu, Orion) across the Milky Way. This level of symbolism
would probably be an outer temple knowledge element, i.e., most people would be allowed to know it. Heck, you can look up
into the sky on any dark night and see Her pursuing Orion—it’s right there in front of you.
The next level inward, known only to the appropriate priestly level, uses the Sirius key. Isis (Sirius) rises just before
the Sun at the start of Aakhet, the season of Inundation. Timing of this season is crucial in Egypt, because all “peasant”
work must stop while the fields are flooded, and there are a number of festivals surrounding the rebirth of Osiris. Again,
using the key of Sirius, the priests would look to Sahu: Orion (Osiris) rises before Sirius (Isis) and his magical belt points
directly at the place in the sky that Sepdet will rise before the Sun. So using the key Sirius, we have unlocked the astronomical
mystery that preserves how to determine when the flood is coming.
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| The constellation of Orion was identified with Osiris by the ancient Egyptians |
Next, we turn the key of Sahu. Another level of priests work with the energy of raising people to their own divine nature:
they are Orion/Osiris/Sahu. Here, Isis is the guide towards Orion. It is she who must find the body of Osiris, collect its
parts, reassemble it, and bring it to life. It is she who helps him rise up to the stars. So this rebirthing process becomes
a deeply symbolic, keyed process of spiritual growth controlled and directed by the inner priesthood.
Another turn is the key of Giza. From studies in The Orion Mystery by Robert Bauval and Adrian Gilbert, there appears
to be a clear design plan to the three great pyramids at Giza to echo the position of the three belt stars in Orion’s
belt. The middle star, Alnilam, is the most important to the goal of those seeking to become Sahu—it is the star to
which the Orion shaft in the King’s chamber of the Great Pyramid aligns.
The biggest unanswered question is what does the belt point at on the eastern side of the Nile? In all these keyed symbol
codes, there is parity. So there should be a corresponding shrine of Isis on the east bank of the Nile. I haven’t seen
this discussed, to date, but it may be under the suburbs of Cairo, along with the ruins of Annu (Heliopolis).
And then there is the innermost key of Sirius from which we would have gained the deepest amount of our energies, had we
been among the innermost priesthood. Sirian beings came to Earth after the Cancerian catastrophe to help mankind rebuild and
learn how to live in their new world. Isis and Osiris were among these beings. And so Sahu-Orion-Osiris always points to Sepdet-Sirius
to tell mankind where the help came from, and where to call for help in the future. Presumably, the highest priests had a
way to reach the Sirians to ask for help when needed.
Now, to the extent that these myths were recorded at all, words being sacred and dangerous in the mind of the Egyptian
priesthood, they would never have recorded the keys. The keys would be passed down through appropriate initiations,
and training in the temple. Only those who reached the appropriate level would have gained access to the next key. (And some
of us are being called on to step forward and remember those keys.)
And yet, the symbolism is very powerful. It sticks in the brain and won’t go away. So someone could, perhaps, reconstruct
the key in case of disaster. And, in the case of Egypt, disaster came. Many, if not most of the myths and their keys predate
Dynastic Egypt. Knowledge of the keys was concentrated in a few priestly lineages, which were usually among the most politically
prominent (such as the priests of Ra, Isis, and Osiris).
But stuff happens. After the Great Pyramids of Giza were built, something devastating happened to the priests who knew
the keys to unlock the stone working technology: pyramids of the Vth and VIth dynasties are noticeably inferior to those of
the IVth. And it is only in these later periods that you begin finding the so-called Pyramid Texts, where the priests had
become afraid that they would somehow lose the knowledge contained in the myths and chose to write certain of the myths on
the inside walls of the pyramids—hence the Pyramid Texts form the beginnings of the Pert-m-Hru, the Book of Coming Forth
by Day, also known as The Egyptian Book of the Dead.
At the end of the Old Kingdom was a terrible period of unrest. Most archaeologists have dismissed it as a period of civil
war, and perhaps invasions, but a recent find in the tomb of one of the Delta Nome governors indicates that the underlying
problem may have been a 200-year-long drought. His tomb records that during this period the Nile not only didn’t’
flood, but it nearly dried up, and people became so hungry, some were driven to eating their children. It was a terrible disaster.
In a situation such as that, it is beyond a doubt that the priesthood would suffer as much as any other group in the country,
if not more so—they produced no bread or meat. And the older priests, the ones with the greatest of the secret keys,
would have been frail and more likely to die of famine, hunger, or disease. Plus, being both politically connected, and “responsible”
for the cosmic processes that kept Egyptian natural cycles functioning in a state of Ma’at, they may have been even
more vulnerable than the average person.
So you end up with an Egypt that has been relatively depopulated of its natives, and one which has lost many of the key
holders who understood its fundamental myths. The myths remain, such as those that inform the practice of embalming, but the
rationale, the meaning, is long gone. In addition, the thinning of people that has taken place draws in many new people from
other lands, who bring their own gods and myths, which eventually get incorporated into the Egyptian story.
Things degrade further through the invasions of the Middle Kingdom, especially when Egypt is taken over in conquest by
other nations, who impose their own gods for a while and punish the Egyptian priesthood for practicing their ways. Another
round of devastation, and we’re into the Late Kingdom, from which we have most of our knowledge of Ancient Egypt,
because by this time, they were writing everything down on papyrus scrolls.
The sacred beliefs of the Gods and Goddesses have been mixed and overlaid, one upon the other, so that they have come to
represent aspects of one another. Isis is representing Hathor, who herself is Nut during the day, and perhaps during the night.
Bast is no longer a lioness, like her sister, Sekhmet, but a much gentler cat Goddess. Osiris is Ptah-Sokar-Asar, having been
absorbed into Memphite theology, and is also the great Serapis bull god. There is much confusion, and it is hard to get back
to the original, basic meanings of the myths.
By the Late Kingdom, even the original meanings of many of the hieroglyphs had been lost, and the truth of sacred words
as hekau had long been a mystery. For the most part, scribes were reduced to mere copying of previous, older texts,
which they no longer understood, and sometimes may not have had the knowledge to know when they were miscopying. Most writing
had been devolved into Demotic script, a kind of shorthand hieroglyphic writing that could be done quickly, without the artistry
that real hieroglyphics—sacred writing—required. And once Alexander conquered the country, they were forced into
writing in Greek, which is the source of the great Rosetta stone.
So-called “spells” on papyrus were probably long descendants of actual ritual hekau used to resolve
a particular problem. But the latter day priests could only recite the formula and hope—the key had been lost. And our
modern archaeologists dismiss all such texts as “magical spells,” whether they were intended as such by
the Egyptians or not, meaning that they are “untrue” and “ridiculous” examples of primitive people
not knowing how the real world worked. This despite evidence that the Egyptians knew a great deal about practical medicine,
surgery, engineering, astronomy, metallurgy, stone working, jewelry, and many other topics that modern people could actually
learn from.
The conquest of Alexander, the installation of the Ptolemies as Pharaohs, and finally the conquest of Egypt by Rome saw
the final destruction of Egypt as the great natural land that it had been. Sure, the Coptic Christians preserve some small
pieces, and we’ve found the written myths here and there, but the keys are still missing.
(I have a problem with people trying to tell me that the Coptic pronunciations of Egyptian God names are “correct”.
Languages change a great deal over time, even in as “static” a culture as Egypt. I’ve studied English literature
going back to Anglo-Saxon, and in just 1,000 years, the language becomes virtually unrecognizable to modern readers. So how
can you justify an attitude with me that my pronunciations, based on what I hear in my head, are any less correct?
I just may be hearing something from 4,000 years before what you are hearing, so get over yourself.)
But there is hope. The keys can be recovered, through diligent searching, meditation, and intuition, and sometimes through
past life regression. We need to reclaim our myths as the incredibly rich sources of information that they are, and begin
to receive the deeper teachings they were created to pass along to us. And most important, we must overcome our Western skepticism
that these were just old stories told by stupid people to amuse themselves and tell why the Sun rose in the East this morning.
© 2007 Michael A. Starsheen
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